First important step toward bringing the Anti-Corruption Law into life

The workshop is part of the UNDP Regional Project “Promoting a Fair Business Environment in ASEAN”, which is funded by the UK Prosperity Fund. Attending the workshop were representatives from the Government Inspectorate, ministries, branches, UNDP, British Embassy, development partners, business communities, social organizations and related organizations and agencies.

“Corruption is one of the biggest impediments to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. An estimated $3.6 trillion is lost to development through corruption annually, despite many countries’ efforts. It’s time for even bolder actions,” said UNDP Deputy Resident Representative Akiko Fujii in her opening speech.

She commended Viet Nam for taking strong steps to combating corruption: “Viet Nam has ratified the UNCAC in 2009, revised the Penal Code in 2017 with the major changes in the criminal policy with corruption crimes; and adopted the new Anti-Corruption Law 2018. Especially, one of the key new aspects of the Law is the expansion of its scope to the private sector. All these efforts show the commitment of Viet Nam to implementing Goal 16 of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in which ‘Substantially reduce corruption and bribery in all their forms’ is one of its key targets”.

UNDP has provided extensive support to Vietnamese partners during the process of developing and implementing the Law. The workshop is part of a series of activities to support implementation of the revised Anti-Corruption Law. The draft Decree tabled today is a very first important step toward bringing the Law into life as it provides details on the implementation of a number of its articles, especially the issues on the accountability of State agencies, criteria to assess anti-corruption work, codes of conduct of those staff with managing and/ or authorizing role, job transfer, application of anti-corruption measures in non-state enterprises and organizations.

Ms Fujii expressed her hope that this workshop would provide a useful platform for both the Vietnamese Government and the business community to work together in implementing the new Anti-Corruption Law./.